In the late 1940s and early 1950s, automobile manufacturers began introducing seatbelts as an option. Generally, a seatbelt includes at least two parts. Each part includes a length of webbing with at least one end firmly attached to an automobile. For one part, a buckle is attached to the other end of the webbing. For the other part, a tongue is attached to the webbing. The buckle includes a groove into which the tongue may be inserted. Internal to the buckle is a male part of a fastener configured to connect to a female part of the fastener on the tongue when the tongue is inserted into the groove. The buckle also includes a release button so that the tongue can be removed from the groove.
Since being introduced, seatbelts have proven to be a highly effective means for avoiding injuries in collisions. The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that approximately 13,000 lives in the United States are saved each year from wearing seatbelts. Sadly, the NHTSA also estimates that approximately 7,000 collision fatalities each year could have been avoided if the victims had been wearing seatbelts.
Although seatbelts, when worn by adults, have proven to be a highly effective means for avoiding injuries in collisions, such seatbelts, sized to be worn by adults, have been found to cause injuries to small children when worn by them. In response to this problem child safety seats were developed. Generally, a child safety seat includes a rigid frame with a padded insert and straps that buckle a child to the frame. Additionally, a child safety seat typically includes means for connecting it to a seatbelt so that the frame is connected to the automobile. In this manner, a child properly buckled into a child safety seat, which itself is properly buckled to a seatbelt, is protected from some injuries in collisions. Since the mid 1980s most states have enacted laws requiring the mandatory wearing of seatbelts and the mandatory use of child safety seats.
Almost since their introduction, one of the problems that has limited the use of seatbelts has been the tendency of the buckle to slide into places where it is not readily visible. For example, often a gap is formed where an automobile seat bottom encounters an automobile seat back and the buckle has had a tendency to slide into the gap. A gap can also exist between two seats. Automobile manufacturers have addressed this issue by shortening the length of the webbing to which the buckle is attached so that it cannot slide into the gap.
Unfortunately, if the use of a short length of webbing has mitigated the problem of locating a buckle in a situation in which the seatbelt will be used by an adult, then it has exacerbated the problem of locating and interacting with the buckle in a situation in which the seatbelt will be used in conjunction with a child safety seat. The bulkiness of a child safety seat can cause it to block the view and reasonable accessibility of the buckle for an adult when the child safety seat is positioned between the adult and the buckle. The bulkiness of a child safety seat can also cause the buckle to be beyond the reach of an arm of a child sitting in the child safety seat. The net result is that the trouble in seeing or reaching the buckle makes the task of buckling a child into a child safety seat an unnecessarily difficult feat. This is particularly the case when more than one child safety seat is used, more than one passenger occupies the automobile seat, or both.
Additionally, many automobiles intended for family use are designed so that at least the seat backs of the rear seats can be folded over so that the rear portion of the automobile can be converted from carrying passengers to carrying goods. To facilitate the folding of these seat backs, many manufacturers have introduced pockets into the seat bottoms. The pockets are configured to hold the seatbelt buckles when the seat backs are folded over. The presence of these pockets can further exacerbate the problem of locating a buckle in a situation in which the seatbelt will be used in conjunction with a child safety seat.
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